Word was received here Saturday evening that John Schwartz died at his home in Emerson at 2 o’clock that afternoon. Mr. Schwartz fell under a way car at Calhoun last summer and was brought here and kept at the hospital for several months. He lost a limb by the accident and on account of poor health, the wound would not heal. He was finally taken to his home at Emerson, but did not improve. Bright’s disease set in and became the immediate cause of death. The funeral was held at the Methodist church in this city at 10:30 this morning under the auspices of the Knight Templars. The body was then turned over to the Blue Lodge for interment in the Blair cemetery. Mr. Schwartz was superintendent of bridge work on the M. & O. road for many years and was at one time a resident of this city.

#2-12 Apr., 1906 - The Blair Democrat - John Schwartz

DEATH OF FORMER RESIDENT

John Schwartz Dies at His Home in Emerson and Remains Brought Here for burial.

Word was received in Blair last Saturday by Wm. Kelly conveying the sad intelligence that John Schwartz had passed away that afternoon at 3:15 o’clock at his home in Emerson.

While the friends of Mr. Schwartz living in Blair knew it had been only a question of time when he must pass away, yet they were hardly prepared for the news when it came as the reports from the afflicted man had been more encouraging of late than formerly.

It will be remembered that shortly after noon on August 23rd Mr. Schwartz met with an accident at DeSoto while attempting to board a freight train coming to Blair. Just as he was about to get on the caboose, the engineer gave the cars a bump which threw Mr. Schwartz under the car, the wheels passing over one of his legs between the knee and ankle. The injured man was immediately brought to Blair and the limb amputated just below the knee.

Mr. Schwartz had been suffering with diabetes for several years, and notwithstanding that everything was done for him that good nursing and doctors could do, the limb refused to heel and another amputation followed, this time above the knee. The unfortunate man was kept in the hospital here for several weeks and then taken to his home in Emerson where his faithful wife has done all anyone could to make his last days happy and nurse him back to health if she could.

For a time after getting home Mr Schwartz condition improved and up until a few weeks ago he was able to wheel himself around in an invalid’s chair but while the wound was healing where his limb had been amputated, there was a sore on the calf on the other limb that would not yield to treatment and gangrene set in resulting in his death.

The Schwartz family lived in Blair for a number of years, and were well thought of, the father being buried in the Blair cemetery.

John Schwartz was born in Galena, Illinois September 30, 1855, and when a boy moved to Mineral Point, Wisconsin with his parents and then to Minnesota where he entered the employ of the railroad company. About in 1881 Mr. Schwartz was transferred to this state by the company, and for a time had his headquarters in Covington, coming to Blair a few years later. In 1896 Mr. Schwartz was married to Miss Lucy Wixer at the home of her folks up near Tekamah. They made Blair their home for a short time, and then moved to Emerson from which place Mr Schwartz could better look after the interests of the railroad company as bridge foreman.

Besides a wife and two sons, deceased leaves two brothers, Louis who lives at Emerson and Paul who is in Idaho, and three sisters, Freida, Fannie and Rosie, all of Golden, Colorado.

The funeral services were held at the Methodist church yesterday under the auspices of the Masonic lodge of which the deceased had been an honored member. Interment was made in the Blair cemetery, and the remains were followed to their last resting place by a large concourse of sorrowing friends.

~~~Obituaries courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair, Nebraska Public Library~~~

Find a Grave Memorial #118851321